The Matrix is a system Neo….

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The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you’re inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.

-morpheus

The global conspiracy is out there people (or should I say sheeple?). There is a dark power behind the curtains pulling all the strings and keeping us enslaved. This power seeks to control us and render us mindless drones to its will.

I’m not going to lie, I get irritated at this kind of attitude. It’s absolutely everywhere right now. Ever seen the global phenomenon that is the zeitgeist movement? Or, heard the powerfully worded messages purported by notable figures like David Ike or Alex Jones? It’s everywhere. People talking to us as though they are enlightened and have uncovered this dark power behind everyday society. They use excitingly loaded language that implies we really do live in a matrix-like simulation.

I have, in my friendship group, a list of friends (almost too many to count) who subscribe to this way of thinking one way or another. They will claim that institutions (or, as Louis Althusser would have called it, ‘ideological state apparatus’) such as our government, organized religion, the financial system etc, exist purely to control and manipulate the populace. They, rather smugly, spout that, they have removed themselves from this system and have become free people in the process. Far too enlightened for church, they lead us to believe that a life without religion is a liberated life. They proclaim that science has advanced beyond the need for blind faith and that anyone who doesn’t subscribe to their worldview is naive, misinformed and delusional.

I find this insulting. But, it is also a very clever play in their argument. In applying the deluded filter to any debate with a person of faith, you instantly tip the field of debate in your favor. If deluded becomes a premise rather than what it actually is (a misinformed assumption), then anyone of faith brave enough to subject themselves to a debate is fighting a loosing battle from the offset.

This is all slight digression, the reason I am writing this article isn’t to level the playing field once again. I am writing to suggest an alternative to the global power-struggle theory that dominates modern western pseudo philosophical thought.

I was watching an Attenborough documentary the other day and something struck me in his commentary. It was a show about the origins of life and, right at the start, without a falter or hesitation Attenborough states the age of the earth as absolute fact without providing any evidence to support this claim.

Before this article is scoffed at, I would like to make some clarifications. I am not going to say, one way or the other, what side of the debate my own views fall on and I am not saying their isn’t evidence available for the theory of evolution. What I am saying is this, we are bombarder with information on the television, in the news and even in school that is presented to us as absolute fact when it simply isn’t the case. It is akin to me presenting to you the story of Jesus Christ as fact without providing evidence to support my assertion. Now, when a Christian does this, they are instantly dismissed for not having evidence however, the same can be applied to the non-believer.

I was in conversation with my brother, an ardent atheist and evolutionist (well, that is the world view he subscribes to, he certainly hasn’t contributed scientifically towards the theory nor does he practice in that field) regarding the subject of faith. He dismissed any points I made as whimsy and refuted by sighting that the theory of evolution is proven fact and destroys the need for a creator God. This is just not true. Evolution isn’t and has never been, proven fact. It is a well evidenced and supported theory with a lot going for it but, unless you are an expert in the field, it is ill-advised to quote conclusions made by practitioners and philosophers in the field as fact.

It is an act of faith to say in a debate with a person of religious faith, ‘I know we evolved from so and so because there is proof of it’ without knowing the evidence intimately. To refuse to believe in God because of what Dawkins, or Stephen Fry, or Ricky Gervais or, Sam Harris or any other famous Atheists say is as much an act of faith as to say I believe in God.

I’m not saying you must believe in one thing or the other. I’m saying, whatever you chose to believe in, do it because of your own research, your own investigation and not just pick the side with the loudest voice and argument.

I gave my life to follow Christ not because I was deluded or coerced, not because I was part of the brainwashed masses. I did it because I examined the world I lived in, I examined the evidence before my eyes and recognized room for a creator God. I examined the evidence put forward by people of faith and found that the Bible was entirely relevant to the way the world works. I found the evidence matched and was left with no choice but to admit, however improbable it may seem on the surface, Jesus did live, he did die and, to my astonishment and surprise did rise again. With this, I had no choice but to recognize this as truth and devote myself to God.

I cannot force you to believe this, I can’t even try. However, examine the evidence for yourself. There is nothing out there that I have seen that has been able to disprove God. There has been nothing I have seen to prove there is a God. However, the evidence appears to me to point towards God and Jesus.

I’d like to end with my alternative to the cultural paradigm offered above.

There is a conspiracy to control and subdue the masses. This evil lusts for a new world order in which the shadowy forces behind the scenes rule over mankind. People really do live in the matrix with the wool pulled tightly over their eyes. They are sold a false freedom by the new world order. This Freedom comes in the guise of freedom of consciousness, freedom to not believe.

This force is known as sin, it is controlled by the purveyor of evil, the deceptor, the serpent. It seeks to blind us to the truth that we can be free.

Someone has come to free us from the matrix, his name is Jesus and he defeats the deception. He opens our eyes to freedom and gives us an eternal future in paradise free from the manacles forged by the enemy.

“and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – John 8:32

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” – Galatians 5:1

Finally, I’ve replaced the word matrix with sin.

“Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Sin

Do you want to know what it is?

Yes.

Sin is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work… when you go to church… when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

What truth?

That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.”

4 thoughts on “The Matrix is a system Neo….”

I largely agree. There is just one point I would like to try and make regarding your conviction of people to do their own research and investigation. Unfortunately the reality is that many people are simply not wired this way; I know a few of them personally myself. They believe the evidence seen by their own eyes without feeling they need to do further research on everything, because if they did that then they frankly wouldn’t have the time for anything else, and remember that we live in a largely working class society. We cannot ask everyone to look at, consider and think deeply about the evidence for themselves. Many of them simply don’t have the inclination to do such things.

On this point, remember that I’m sure you, as I, are also guilty of such ignorance, perhaps not when it comes to science or religion but with many other things in life. We hear news stories every day that are carefully selected to control our emotional reaction to the world around us. Encouraged to give money to children in Africa without visiting there to see where the need is ourselves. Even when it comes to the Bible, we read it as God’s word without always bearing in mind context in every situation, or whether or not it has been translated accurately or subtly tampered with through the ages. But I’m rambling. The point is I think we all need to do exactly what you advise us not to, to some extent. If everyone stops this, then I think we’re left largely with what we do have now: a postmodern society that believes everyone has their own ‘truth’, because no-one has the time or attention span to research every idea they come across.

Saying an atheist needs faith as we do is no different than saying that every person on the planet needs a certain amount of faith to make any decision, which is of course true, but it isn’t necessarily helpful for proving God’s existence to them; all it is doing is putting us on a level playing field and, frankly, paying the atheist too much respect. Because in all honesty, we are not on a level playing field at all; having faith in God and having faith that evolution is true are two totally different things. One is living, is all-powerful, acts independently of nature and the universe, the other (if true) just a cold, evidential fact that depends totally on the development of the world around it. We trust that God has a will higher than our own and true faith is trusting in Him even when our own selfish desires are blatantly left unanswered. But one cannot ‘trust’ in evolution; sure, you may trust that it is true, but that’s the extent of it: it isn’t really going to affect your day-to-day life (unless, of course, you’re a scientist). Christians trust in far more than simply ‘God exists’; that’s why I think the comparison is not justifiable. Do you see what I am trying to say? Sorry, I think I’ve raised a few more topics than I intended…

Agreed. Having said that, I feel the playing field needs to appear even before we can even begin to witness. We need to be able to raise the perception held by those who don’t believe about those who do. Otherwise we look the fool and our efforts to share the truth could be entirely fruitless.

Having said that, I don’t think it changes our drive, or ability overly as they are gifts divinely given but, we are given those gifts to use and if our words are falling on ignorant ears then we are not achieving what we have been tasked with.

Yes indeed all, “their” dang “Matrix” is definitely a system(s). We are enslaved into “their” system, one way or the other. It is safe to say from my perspective that one MUST re-educate themselves & free themselves of “their” satanic slave system.
One must “Know thyself” first and “Know who you are and act (and live) accordingly”. Know that you do have inherent, real UNALIENABLE rights, vs. inferior “civil rights”. One should
consider watching or re-watching The Matrix. It has many msgs. in it, hidden and not so hidden. Take the red pill, folks.
Peace.